Trains Why No Bidding? The State's Deal with a Spanish Train Company May Be Great for Taxpayers. It Still Should Have Been Reached Only After a Competitive Bidding Process.

Summary

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Taxpayers may have indeed gotten a good deal on trains the state is buying from a Spanish company. In fact, they may have gotten the best deal possible. But they'll never really know, because the state didn't conduct a competitive bidding process. That shouldn't have happened.

Officials acted legally: A 12-year-old law exempts the state's passenger rail contracts from normal bidding rules. And officials say they did contact other companies. The state sought information from seven major train manufacturers, but only Spain's Talgo provided a detailed response, said Robert Jambois, the Department of Transportation's general counsel. Nippon Sharyo sent a letter, and Alstom Transport of France sent an e-mail.

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Trains Why No Bidding? The State's Deal with a Spanish Train Company May Be Great for Taxpayers. It Still Should Have Been Reached Only After a Competitive Bidding Process.

Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi insisted taxpayers got a good deal. "What we've done is we tr...

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